Hoa Hao

Hoa Hao is a sect of Buddhism which was founded in Vietnam in 1939 by Huynh Phu So. It had its base in the southwestern provinces adjacent to Cambodia, and 90% of the population of the Mekong Delta made up a part of its 2-million-strong membership. It had a private army of 15,000 soldiers who fought against both France and the Viet Minh during the First Indochina War, also cooperating with both at different times. After Ngo Dinh Diem came to power, the Hoa Hao were militarily crushed, and it had almost no political or religious organization by 1963.